


a bouquet full of meaning

by everyotherfreckle



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, flower shop au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 02:41:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8827225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyotherfreckle/pseuds/everyotherfreckle
Summary: finn is halfway through his shift at the local flower shop when a customer comes in with an odd request.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this was inspired by that one [tumblr post](http://shittyaus.tumblr.com/post/145929688095/flower-shop-au).

Finn is halfway asleep – or just ‘ _resting his eyes_ ’ if his boss asks – when the bell above the door chimes loudly jolting him awake. He straightens and holds back a yawn as he delivers First Order Floral’s standard greeting.

“Welcome to First Order Floral where your floral needs are – “ Finn is halted when the customer walks up and slaps her hand down on the counter.

She’s a young woman, probably no older than Finn himself, and she looks, well – _extremely_ pissed. Finn mentally tries to remember if he’s recently had any guys come in and purchase ‘apology bouquets’. This wouldn’t be the first time an angry girlfriend has come in after receiving one of those.

“Uh, can I help you with something?” Finn asks.

“I need a bouquet.” She says plainly. Just as Finn makes a move to reach behind the counter to bring out the laminated sheet of options for her to choose from, she says something that freezes him completely. “Specifically, I need a bouquet that says ‘ _fuck you_ ’.”

Finn blinks. Did he really just hear her correctly?

“I, um – “ he wets his lips, doing his best to bite back a smile. This is actually sort of amusing in a strange sort of way. “You want what now?”

“Different kinds of flowers have different meanings, right? Like, for instance, roses and tulips have different meanings attached to them, yeah?”

“Well yes but – “

“Right, well I need one that is a giant passive aggressive ‘ _fuck you_ ’.”

Finn supposes he _could_ fill that order for her. He doesn’t know if he should – would that be against protocol? – but it’s a slow day. Might as well entertain himself.

He sighs, reaching behind his back to tighten his apron. “Alright. One ‘ _fuck you_ ’ bouquet coming right up.”

She smiles at him, bright and cheery and, okay, _maybe_ he’s also indulging her because she happens to be sort of cute. Sort of very cute. 

Finn walks around from behind the counter out onto the floor, grabbing a vase on his way out. The shop is essentially a giant greenroom with all sorts of flowers and succulents and other plants out for customers to view. Before he ventures out too far from the counter, he spins on his heel to face the girl.

“Can I get your name?” He asks.

“Rey.” She answers with another bright smile.

“Alright then. Follow me, Rey. I’m gonna show you how to put together this bouquet so you know how to do it yourself next time you need to tell someone to, you know, _fuck off_.”

Finn heads over to the carnations, Rey following closely behind him. He pulls a few of the yellow ones before theatrically showing them to her, which coaxes an amused giggle from her.

“So yellow carnations – these basically say ‘ _you’ve disappointed me_ ’. Is this message appropriate for the lucky person receiving these?”

“Oh, definitely.”

Finn nods and walks a few steps further before stopping again. This time, he grabs good bunch of meadowsweet. “If you don’t mind me asking, who is this bouquet for? Your boyfriend? Or soon-to-be _ex_ -boyfriend, maybe?”

Rey eyes him carefully and Finn feels his face warm. She definitely saw right through what he was trying to do there. “They’re for my cousin. My stupid, no-good, _asshole_ of a cousin.”

Finn hums. “So no boyfriend then?” She raises an eyebrow, which he takes as a hint to move the conversation along. “Right, um, anyway. These right here are meadowsweet. These let your cousin know he’s useless.”

“Really? Maybe I just get him a bunch of those and call it a day.”

Finn laughs before taking her to gather the rest of the flowers – geraniums for stupidity, orange lilies for hatred, and foxglove for insincerity – all while explaining them to her. Rey listens to him with the sort of attentiveness he’s not used to getting whenever he talks to people about flowers. Finn has always had green thumb and he likes being able to plant something and watch it grow, but while _he_ finds it interesting, he is well aware it isn’t the most exciting hobby in the world. Yet Rey is at least kind enough to feign interest (though he doesn’t think she’s feigning at all) as they walk through the shop.

When he’s all done, the two of them make their way back up to the counter so Finn can put all the flowers nice and neat into a vase for her.

“So,” he starts, snipping off the ends of some of the stems. “If it’s not too intrusive, may I ask what exactly did your cousin do to warrant such a lovely gift from you?”

Rey sighs and hops up to sit on the counter. Finn is way too smitten to even _think_ of telling her to hop down. If today happens to be the day his boss pops in for a walkthrough, he’ll deal with that when it happens.

“What _hasn't_ Ben done to deserve this? If I'm being honest, this is long overdue.” She turns a bit to better face him. “But more recently, he screwed me out of my dream job. I work at his father's – my uncle’s – auto shop and he's about to retire so naturally my uncle was looking to hand the shop over to me since I actually know the ins and outs of how to run it. But Ben found out about this, so being the slimy bratty bastard he is, he went and got his equally slimy bastard lawyer friend to draw up some stupid contract that obligated my uncle to pass the shop down to him since he's his son and I’m only his niece by marriage.”

“And I'm guessing Ben doesn't know the first thing about cars?”

“He can't even _drive_ a car. He takes an Uber everywhere he goes.” Yeah. Finn could see why she would want to give a guy like that a bouquet like this. “I really had my heart set on continuing my Uncle Han's work and making the shop the best it could be but fucking Ben had to ruin it all.”

Finn sets down his shears for a moment to meet her eyes. “I'm sorry that happened to you.”

Rey gives him an appreciative smile that actually turns into them just gazing at each other before Finn remembers he’s _at work_ and he’s got an actual job to do. He looks away with an awkward cough and goes back to fixing the flowers.

“It's okay.” She says. “Uncle Han says he'd sooner die than let Ben run his shop into the ground. Once that Ivy League prick realizes running the shop is way harder than he thought, he'll give ownership back to his dad which means I'll soon have ownership.”

“As you should.”

“As I should.”

After a bit of tinkering, Finn finally finishes the bouquet. It’s definitely interesting looking and probably his favorite one that he’s put together since he started working here.

“Alright,” he says, presenting the finished product to her. “Here is your ' _fuck you_ ' bouquet. I'm sure your douchey cousin will love it.”

Rey jumps off of the counter to inspect the vase full of flowers. There’s an appreciative twinkle in her eyes that is pretty much all the reward Finn needs. “Thank you _so_ _much_ , Finn. Both for indulging in my weird request and for listening to me.”

When she moves to reach into her bag, Finn immediately waves her off. “Oh no. It's on the house.”

“No, Finn, you worked hard on this. Let me pay you, please.”

“Rey,” Finn reaches across the counter and covers her hand with his. He idly wonders how many employee-customer relations rules he’s broken today. “It’s fine. Really.”

She looks at him apprehensively before finally giving in.

Finn smiles before reaching over to a nearby vase to pull out an orange rose and hand it to her. “And, um – this is for you.”

Rey takes it, curiously looking it over before returning her eyes to his. “Since every flower has a meaning, what does this one mean?”

“Well yellow roses mean friendship and red roses mean romance so an orange rose basically means something in the middle.”

Finn stands there with his arms folded over his chest hoping he isn’t being _too_ subtle with what he’s trying to say. He has a feeling Rey is more than clever enough to understand.

“Is this how florists ask people out?” She asks, almost teasingly.

“It's how _this_ florist does.” He shrugs a bit awkwardly. “I thought it would be quirky. Did it, uh – did it work?”

Rey sets the flower down on the counter so she can reach into her bag and fish out a pen. She takes one of the many business cards stacked up nearby and scribbles down ten digits. When she hands it to him, Finn doesn’t even try to contain his grin.

“Text me when your shift is over. We can meet somewhere and hang out, if that’s okay with you?"

“Yeah, that is more than okay with me.”

“Good. Can’t wait.” Rey grabs the vase - and her rose - before giving him another grateful smile. “See you later, Finn.”

Finn waves goodbye and waits until she’s left the shop to break out into his patented ‘ _happy dance_ ’.

He’s never been more excited for his shift to end.

**Author's Note:**

> hi there y'all! so here's the thing, this fic was spawned out of my need to get over some particularly terrible writer's block. it is so bad that the only other fic i have going - y'know, my con artist au that i haven't updated in, like, 84 years - is probably going to end up being rewritten because lmaoooo i cannot get out an ending for nothing. so, yeah. there's the story on that.
> 
> anyway, i hope you guys liked this little fic? maybe?? possibly?? your kudos/comments are always appreciated!!


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